Hien Nguyen Writes

 Hi friends! I'm back with a querying specific blog. This time I'm going to drill into how I approached a dual timeline when writing my query.  Dual timelines are tricky, especially since you have such limited space in your query letter to get through everything. For context purposes, I've briefly outlined my manuscript below: My Manuscript Timeline 1: Present day post-apocalypse, following Lucky Le Timeline 2: Childhood and leading up to the events of the apocalypse, following Lucky Le The timelines are alternated chapter by chapter equally until Act III, in which the timelines "merge" and then the rest of the story is told in Timeline 1 My work is a little simpler because of this. I only am following one character through both timelines and the timelines merge into one for the climax. You can find my query letter linked here .  You'll see that my query focused on Lucky as she was experiencing Timeline 1, and then alluded to events that happened in Timeline 2...

  Since I've been posting more content online and through my social media channels, I've recently signed up for a NetGalley account. It's always been a bit daunting for me (why would anybody care what I'm reading?) but I have a wonderful chance to read upcoming work and hype up my fellow writers, so decided to shoot my shot. I was approved for an ARC for GHOST MUSIC by An Yu and did blaze through it one afternoon-evening. If you are a fan of Kazuo Ishiguro, this will probably be a story you enjoy. It's a melancholy and surrealist exploration of grief, loneliness, and the existential pain of being human. It reminded me quite a bit of A VIEW OF PALE HILLS by Ishiguro (in both the way the story is rendered as well as some of the plot strokes and conflicts). The book is quiet, following simple scenes of domestic and family life described with little fanfare. Yu does a great job though of weaving in the smallest of details, ones that reveal much about the characters ...

 Hello friends! I am about a week into my revision and I wanted provide a brief update. After I received my edit letter from my agent, I printed the entire manuscript with her comments via Office Max for $40 (sorry trees, I really can't do a deep dive on the screen 😓.) Then I spent 4-5 days reading it and making notes. I have a bit  of an involved process including sticky notes, charts, and color coding which you can see me discuss  here . Then, I started going in and executing the revisions this past Monday. I'm on chapter 5 now, and things are going well. I had a few good breakthroughs around worldbuilding and some character relationships I needed to hash out. So far, nothing is going to be a major structural change but I'm definitely adding more depth and recasting some scenes that can be more effective. I also bulldozed through Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Which, yes, I am aware. I am WAYYYY late to the party. But it was so good? The kind of SFF that also rips yo...

Hello all! By now, my agent announcement is live, and I continue to be in shock over the whole thing. If you are looking for an in-depth "how I got my agent" post, you can find that here .  This week has been quite heavy, and oftentimes continuing with other things feels sad and strange. However, I've realized writing (about craft or my stories) has helped me focus my energy in moments of heartache. I hope you are holding yourself in care, and allowing yourself grace as your focus your energies in ways you feel are productive.  Today's post is focused on something a bit different. I did want to discuss my querying journey within the context of an "atypical" story.  The manuscript I got my agent with included: dual timelines/a non-chronological story structure  a prologue a tense  and  POV shift in the climax And, in addition to all those choices, this manuscript was: a literary/speculative genre blend a story that despite...

 This will be quite long, FYI. And I also want to highlight two caveats to this “how I got my agent” story: 1. In the grand scheme of things, I had an easy querying experience. This is my first completed manuscript, and I had been querying it for exactly 35 days before I had an offer of representation in hand. I fully recognize that timing and luck were on my side. 2. This story is also intimately tied with grief. I don’t share this to somehow try and make my querying experience seem tougher than it was. It wasn’t. I had an easy querying experience, and I was also grieving during it. Those are just two co-existing facts. If you don’t want to read about all the heavy grief stuff, I’ll share my stats below and you can skip the rest.  The Stats 51 total queries 13 full requests, 1 partial 26 query rejections 9.8% request rate before offer nudge/27.5% after 11 passes on the full/partial 11 CNRs on query, 1 on full 2 offers of rep I) My Writing History I am somewhere between ...

 Hello all! I hope you've been doing well :) As of March, I am officially querying the first manuscript I wrote with the intention of traditional publication. So far it's been okay. I know querying overall is super tough right now, so I've been setting expectations. I have a handful of requests and plenty  of rejections. In the end, if it doesn't work out but I can learn something from the process, I'll count it as a win. I am also changing the name I will be using as a writer from Hien Fox to Hien Nguyen. While making this switch during  querying isn't the smartest thing I've done, it does feel more authentic to me. I'll be forwarding my presence so hopefully  it isn't too confusing. Cheers and hope you are enjoying warmer weather if you're in the Northern Hemisphere!